Panelists: Hanna Sawka (Jan Sawka\u2019s widow), exhibition curators, Hanna Maria Sawka, MFA (Jan Sawka\u2019s daughter) and Dr. Frank Boyer, as well as Ksenia Nouril, PhD., Dr. Peter Schwenger, Dr. Tom Wolf, Beth Wilson, M. Phil, Peter Frank, M.A., and Dr. S\u0142awomir Magala<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the time of COVID-19, when our world is practicing social distancing, itself a form of displacement, the work of Jan Sawka is especially prescient and moving. Sawka’s works dealing with the longing for freedom, coupled with the deep empathy and sense of loss that only exile can bring, express an expansive sense of the beauty that hope, art and nature make available to human beings.<\/p>\n Separated by the whole of the country, two university art museums currently exhibiting the work of the late artist have joined together to present a symposium on his profoundly touching and, ultimately, humane work. In early February The Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA)<\/a> at Cal State San Bernardino opened an exhibition featuring works dealing with his dream of the West, tempered by its problematic promises, titled \u201cGolden West? Jan Sawka\u2019s California Dream\u201d, which is currently on view online<\/a>. Almost simultaneously, the Samuel Dorsky Museum at SUNY New Paltz<\/a> opened a thematic show titled, \u201cJan Sawka: The Place of Memory (The Memory of Place)\u201d which is on view about memory and the places through which a human life passes. The exhibitions opened to critical and public enthusiasm, and full programs of events were planned for each institution throughout the run. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic both museums were closed to visitors in mid-March.<\/p>\n The staff of both museums, together with the exhibition curators, have partnered to cr<\/p>\n![\"\u00a9Fading](\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/04\/Fading_Sawka_2005-lr-1024x619.jpg\")